COMMUNISTS' AREN'T HAPPY

In a wake that I recently attended I noticed how very easy it was to make Filipinos Happy. Four people were then playing “pekwa” (a card game) on top of a small table. They were surrounded by onlookers and every now and then there were happy commotions. One wrong throw of one player was enough to make spectators giggle.

To most Filipinos a wrong decision was funny and laughable. Perhaps that was the reason why in spite of so many wrongdoings in the government and in the private sectors, Filipinos were still happy. They enjoyed discussing among themselves debts incurred after a lavish fiesta or an extravagant birthday party. It interested them and made them feel hilarious when officials made mistakes or somebody had done something embarrassing.

Problems were sprouting right and left and Filipinos were enjoying every bit of it. They made jokes about the diabolic activities of the “satanists”, about a priest that married his secretary, a nun or a senator that blundered. Nothing tickled them deep to the bones more than a churchman caught doing sinful acts.

The Filipino characteristics were so irritating, yet, come to think of it, we were often saved from a grave danger because of this irrelevant sense of humor. That was how we laughed out tear gas, guns and tanks during the popular EDSA revolution more aptly termed people power all over the world.

While in other countries insurgency was a serious problem, here we only made comedy skits about it. While in most western countries people run away from fighting groups, here in the Philippines we gathered around and even clapped our hands while watching a live action show.

Filipinos were fun loving and were themselves funny. They bragged about their nationalism yet exhibited and practiced foreign culture. Yes, even our religious practices and our spirituality were a series of funny events. From colorful baptismal festivities preceded by “buhos-tubig” (lay baptism), a few days after birth to enjoyable “juego de frenda” during death wakes, and all the other expensive celebrations in between the womb and the tomb, we Filipinos always laugh.

This 'ugaling Filipino' however, was our most important shield against communism, for communist were serious ideologists, they seldom laugh and we Filipinos can never accept anything unfunny. We would rather die laughing than live in an atmosphere of equality and justice if we couldn’t even smile wholeheartedly.

Back to “pekwa”, one player claimed he was cheated and he was red-mad trying to prove his point. But everybody laughed at him for his temperament and just for fear of being disqualified from the game of insomniacs; he composed himself and gave his most precious smile of surrender. Most Filipinos do surrender their principles for a laugh and it was really funny.